The present invention relates to an electronic equipment terminal connector, electronic equipment, and electronic equipment terminal connector unit suitable for electric tuners used in television receivers, VCRs, satellite broadcasting receivers, and other electronic devices.
Electric tuners used for television receivers, VCRs, satellite broadcasting receivers, and other electronic devices are one example of electronic equipment which is provided with an electronic equipment terminal connector in which a plurality of terminal pins are linked to one another by an insulator.
To bring the electric tuner in actual operation, it is required to externally supply a voltage for driving amplifier circuits, local oscillator circuits, and frequency converter circuits in the electric tuner, and also a synchronize voltage for synchronizing band-pass filters of input circuits and inter-stage circuits, and PLL control data when making the synchronization by PLL.
For such a purpose, the electric tuner employs a connection terminal for the external connection. As such a connection terminal, feed-through capacitors and terminal pins have been known conventionally.
FIG. 8(a) and FIG. 8(b) show an electric tuner employing feed-through capacitors as the connection terminal, in which FIG. 8(a) is a front view of the electric tuner and FIG. 8(b) is a plan view of the electric tuner of FIG. 8(a).
As shown in FIG. 8(a) and FIG. 8(b), the electric tuner has an arrangement in which a plurality of feed-through capacitors 121 are provided on one of the side surfaces of a chassis angle 122, and an antenna input terminal 123 and antenna output terminal 124 are provided on another side surface of the chassis angle 122, i.e., the surface perpendicular to the surface on which the feed-through capacitors 121 are provided, and an upper shield cover 125 and lower shield cover 126 are provided on upper and lower surfaces of the chassis angle 122.
In this electric tuner, the plurality of feed-through capacitors 121 are fixed on the chassis angle 122 by solder. In the chassis angle 122, the terminal sections (not shown) of the feed-through capacitors 121 are connected to a print substrate (not shown).
FIG. 9(a) and FIG. 9(b) show an electric tuner employing terminal pins as the connection terminal, in which FIG. 9(a) is a front view of the electric tuner and FIG. 9(b) is a plan view of the electric tuner of FIG. 9(a).
In this electric tuner, instead of the feed-through capacitors 121 as shown in FIG. 8(a) and FIG. 8(b), a plurality of terminal pins 128 are directly inserted and solder fixed on a print substrate 127 provided in the chassis angle 122.
The electric tuner employing feed-through capacitors as the connection terminal has drawbacks that it is more expensive than the electric tuner employing the terminal pins and it takes more time to make connections.
Meanwhile, in the electric tuner in which terminal pins as the connection terminal are directly fixed on the print substrate, because individual pins are merely soldered directly on the print substrate, the terminal pins tend to come off easily and the problem of weak terminal portion is presented.
In order to increase the strength of the terminal portion, there has been proposed an electronic equipment terminal connector 130 as shown in FIG. 10(a) through FIG. 10(e) for connecting an external power source, etc., and electronic equipment, in which FIG. 10(a) is a front view, FIG. 10(b) is a plan view, FIG. 10(c) is a bottom view, FIG. 19(d) is a left side view, and FIG. 10(e) is a right side view.
The terminal connector 130 has an arrangement in which a plurality of terminal pins 131 are linked to one another in a straight line by an insulator 132 of a rectangular shape. Such a terminal connector is disclosed as a capacitor array, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent publication No. 153596/1990 (Tokukaihei 2-153596) (Published Date: Jun. 13, 1990).
FIG. 11(a) and FIG. 11(b) show an electric tuner to which the terminal connector 130 having the above arrangement is attached, in which FIG. 11(a) is a front view and FIG. 11(b) is a plan view.
As shown in FIG. 11(a), the terminal connector 130 is arranged such that the insulator 132 is fixed on the chassis angle 122 by a fixing tongue 141. Here, as shown in FIG. 12, the terminal pins 131 are connected to the print substrate 127 in the chassis angle 122. FIG. 12 shows a main portion of the cross sectional view of FIG. 11(a) taken along the line Xxe2x80x94X.
The following describes how the electric tuner employing the terminal connector 130 is assembled, referring to FIGS. 11(a) and (b) and FIG. 12.
1. The antenna input terminal 123 and antenna output terminal 124 are fixed on the chassis angle 122 by bezel or solder.
2. The terminal connector 130 is attached to the chassis angle 122.
3. The print substrate 127 mounting chip components and insertion parts is fixed in position in the chassis angle 122.
4. The print substrate 127 and chassis angle 122, the print substrate 127 and terminal pins 131 of terminal connector 130, and the print substrate 127 and antenna input terminal 123 and antenna output terminal 124 are each soldered with one another by reflow or flow.
5. After adjustment, the upper shield cover 125 and lower shield cover 126 are attached to the chassis angle 122.
However, in the electronic equipment employing the electronic equipment terminal connector 130 as shown in FIG. 10(a) through FIG. 10(e), i.e., in the electric tuner as shown in FIGS. 11(a) and (b) and FIG. 12, when the terminal connector 130 is to be attached to the chassis angle 122, the fixing tongue 141 as shown in FIGS. 11(a) and (b) and FIG. 12 is provided at the edge portion of the opening section 122a on a side surface of the chassis angle 122 through which the terminal connector 130 is to be inserted, and the insulator 132 of the terminal connector 130 is fixed on the chassis angle 122 by bending the fixing tongue 141.
Therefore, a step of bending the fixing tongue 141 is required in the process of attaching the terminal connector 130 to the chassis angle 122, thus making the process complex and operability suffers.
The present invention was made to solve the foregoing problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic equipment terminal connector, electronic equipment, and electronic equipment terminal connector unit, by which an electronic equipment terminal connector in which a plurality of terminal pins are linked to one another by an insulator can be fixed easily on an electronic equipment chassis (chassis angle) only by inserting the electronic equipment terminal connector into an opening section of the electronic equipment chassis when making attachment.
In order to achieve the foregoing object, an electronic equipment terminal connector of the present invention is to be attached to an electronic equipment chassis by inserting a portion of an insulator composed of a plurality of terminal pins linked to one another into an opening section of the electronic equipment chassis so as to make an electrical connection between the terminal pins and a substrate portion in the electronic equipment chassis, and the electronic equipment terminal connector is provided with a stop section which stops the insulator on the electronic equipment chassis while the portion of the insulator is inserted into the opening section of the electronic equipment chassis.
With this arrangement, the electronic equipment terminal connector can be attached to the electronic equipment chassis only by inserting a portion of the insulator of the electronic equipment terminal connector into the opening section of the electronic equipment chassis. Thus, it is not required to provide a conventionally required step of bending a fixing tongue of the electronic equipment chassis by a bezel process, etc., thus improving operability. Further, a process of forming a fixing tongue on the electronic equipment chassis is not required either.
Further, in order to achieve the foregoing object, electronic equipment of the present invention in which an electronic equipment terminal connector including a plurality of terminal pins which are linked to one another by an insulator is attached to an electronic equipment chassis is arranged such that the electronic equipment terminal connector is attached to the electronic equipment chassis by inserting a portion of the insulator into an opening section of the electronic equipment chassis so as to make an electrical connection between the terminal pins and a substrate portion of the electronic equipment chassis, and the electronic equipment includes a stop section which stops the insulator on the electronic equipment chassis while the portion of the insulator is inserted into the opening section of the electronic equipment chassis.
With this arrangement, because the opening section is provided on the surface of the electronic equipment chassis where the terminal connector is to be positioned, and the stop section which is stopped at the opening section when the portion of the insulator of the terminal connector is inserted into the opening section is used as the terminal connector, the terminal connector can be easily fixed only by inserting a portion of the insulator into the opening section of the electronic equipment chassis. Thus, it is not required to provide a conventionally required step of bending a fixing tongue of the electronic equipment chassis by a bezel process, etc., thus improving operability. Further, a process of forming a fixing tongue on the electronic equipment chassis is not required either.
Further, in order to achieve the foregoing object, an electronic equipment terminal connector unit of the present invention has an arrangement in which the electronic equipment terminal connector is provided in plurality, which are linked to one another by a linking member.
With this arrangement, because a plurality of electronic equipment terminal connectors are linked to one another, they can be attached to the opening section of the electronic equipment chassis at once. Thus, the attachment of plural connectors and chassis can be made by attaching the electronic equipment terminal connector only by inserting it into the chassis and thereafter by cutting the linkage, thus greatly reducing manufacturing time.
For a fuller understanding of the nature and advantages of the invention, reference should be made to the ensuing detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.